Dubbing English Animated Films into Croatian Baotić, Helena Master's thesis / Diplomski rad 2020 Degree Grantor / Ustanova koja je dodijelila akademski / stručni stupanj: Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences / Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, Filozofski fakultet Permanent link / Trajna poveznica: https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:734392 Rights / Prava: In copyright Download date / Datum preuzimanja: 2021-10-06 Repository / Repozitorij: FFOS-repository - Repository of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Osijek Sveučilište J. J. Strossmayera u Osijeku Filozofski fakultet Osijek Dvopredmetni sveučilišni diplomski studij engleskog jezika i književnosti – prevoditeljski smjer i nakladništva Helena Baotić O hrvatskoj sinkronizaciji engleskih crtanih filmova Diplomski rad Mentor: doc. dr. sc. Goran Schmidt Osijek, 2020. Sveučilište J. J. Strossmayera u Osijeku Filozofski fakultet Osijek Odsjek za engleski jezik i književnost Dvopredmetni sveučilišni diplomski studij engleskog jezika i književnosti – prevoditeljski smjer i nakladništva Helena Baotić O hrvatskoj sinkronizaciji engleskih crtanih filmova Diplomski rad Znanstveno područje: humanističke znanosti Znanstveno polje: filologija Znanstvena grana: anglistika Mentor: doc. dr. sc. Goran Schmidt Osijek, 2020. J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Double Major MA Study Programme in English Language and Literature – Translation and Interpreting Studies and Publishing Studies Helena Baotić Dubbing English Animated Films into Croatian Master’s Thesis Supervisor: doc. dr. sc. Goran Schmidt Osijek, 2020 J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Department of English Double Major MA Study Programme in English Language and Literature – Translation and Interpreting Studies and Publishing Studies Helena Baotić Dubbing English Animated Films into Croatian Master’s Thesis Scientific area: humanities Scientific field: philology Scientific branch: English studies Supervisor: doc. dr. sc. Goran Schmidt Osijek, 2020 Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Dubbing – definition, technical aspects, and national preferences ............................................. 2 2. Dubbing in Croatia ...................................................................................................................... 5 2.1. The history of Croatian dubbing .......................................................................................... 5 2.2. Urban and rural components (North and South) ................................................................. 6 2.3. The lack of Istrian and Slavonian idioms in dubbing ........................................................... 7 2.4. Public’s opinion on dubbing ................................................................................................ 8 3. Croatian dub analysis of selected animated films ..................................................................... 10 3.1. Plot summaries ................................................................................................................... 10 3.1.1. Coco ............................................................................................................................ 10 3.1.2. Hotel Transylvania ...................................................................................................... 11 3.1.3. Inside Out .................................................................................................................... 12 3.1.4. Megamind .................................................................................................................... 13 3.1.5. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie ........................................................................... 14 3.2. Translating personal and geographical names ................................................................... 15 3.3. Translating culturally-specific elements ............................................................................ 25 3.4. Translating idiomatic expressions and metaphors ............................................................. 34 3.5. Translating wordplay and jokes ......................................................................................... 45 3.6. Translating dialect and slang terms .................................................................................... 50 4. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 60 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................... 62 Abstract The purpose of this master's thesis is to explore and analyse the Croatian dub industry and to compare selected English animated films with their dubbed versions. The first half of the thesis will focus on the theoretical part, which will cover the definition and technical aspects of dubbing and give a brief overview of national preferences, and ending with an analysis of Croatian dubbing traditions, concentrating mostly on public perception of dubbed films and preferred regional dialects used for the dub. The second half of the thesis will be an extensive case study of five selected animated films, starting with their short plot summaries. Translation strategies for personal and geographical names, culturally-specific elements, idiomatic expressions and metaphors, wordplay and jokes, and dialects and slang terms will be carefully analysed and compared to the source language version. A brief explanation of the dubbed item will also be given, including putting a suggestion for a better translation where necessary. The main objective is to observe how Croatian dubbing industry is perceived in the public eye and to assess its overall quality when compared to the original versions. Keywords: dubbing, technical aspects of dubbing, national preferences, dubbing in Croatia, public’s perception of dubbed films, regional dialects, translation strategies for dubbing Introduction Ever since Croatia became an independent country and started dubbing imported animated films, there has been a lot of talk about the overall quality of Croatian dubbing, with many viewers harshly criticising the use of regional dialects when voicing certain types of characters. Back when Croatia was a part of Yugoslavia, the dubbing process was quite different. There were not any commercial television studios which dealt with dubbing other than the national television – Hrvatska radiotelevizija – and the voice actors all spoke in the standard variety. That all changed in the late 1990s and the early 2000s, when commercial studios introduced colourful and rich regional dialects of Croatia to dubbed animated films, much to the dismay (and joy) of audience members. This paper will explore Croatia’s dubbing history and by analysing five selected animated films released from 2004 to 2017, it will observe the translation strategies used for translating specific elements of vocabulary and speech. Chapter 1 gives the definition of dubbing and presents its technical aspects. Unlike the cheap and fast subtitling, dubbing is a much more expensive and complicated process which necessitates the cooperation of experts from different fields – voice actors, dubbing director, sound engineers, and others. The chapter gives an overview of dubbing routines followed in Western European countries and lists the pros and cons of dubbing and subtitling. The final part discusses national preferences in Europe and explains why the USA and other English-speaking countries are reluctant to watch dubbed content. Chapter 2 focuses on dubbing in Croatia in four separate subheadings. The first one gives a brief look at Croatia’s dubbing history starting in the late 1960s and up until the 1990s and 2000s, and lists currently active dubbing studios. The second and the third subheading discuss the use of and the lack of certain regional dialects, respectively, and explain the meaning of urban and rural components. The final subheading deals with the public’s opinion on dubbing, explaining why some viewers are so opposed to the concept of using different regional dialects. Chapter 3 is an extensive dub analysis and research of various translation strategies used for dubbing the five selected animated films. After giving short plot summaries for each film in the first subheading, the following five subheadings deal with the issues of translating specific language elements: personal and geographical names, culturally-specific elements, idiomatic expressions and metaphors, wordplay and jokes, and finally, dialect and slang terms. 1 1. Dubbing – definition, technical aspects, and national preferences After the introduction of subtitles (or “intertitles”, to be more precise) in early silent movies, the following years of the 20th century have brought about a rise in sound films. Movie distributors were faced with a serious dilemma: how to get around language barriers and distribute their films to foreign audiences? Subtitling and dubbing emerged as the best solutions to this problem, with many countries choosing one or the other as their standard practice, according to each country’s political and cultural factors. Dubbing is a form of film translation whose main feature is